(Sometimes ya just gotta lay down a cheesy rhyme. The title of this post fills my quota for a while.)

Six (or seven-ish) weeks ago, I started the Couch to 5K running program. C25K is an interval training program designed to take people from couch potatoes (or at least people in poor shape) and turn them into runners a little bit at a time over the course of nine weeks.

The first week, you run for a minute, then walk for a minute and a half, eight times over. The next week you run for one and a half minutes, then walk for two, six times over. This pattern advances each week. At the end of the fifth week, you run a solid twenty minutes without walking!

My next run (Week 6, Run 2) will consist of two ten-minute runs with a three-minute walk between them. Then by the end of the week, I will run for twenty-five minutes straight. This time keeps increasing each week, so that by the end of week nine and the end of the program, I will be running for thirty minutes.

Thirty minutes!

Did I mention that it was only a handful of weeks ago that I was only running one minute at a time? And huffing and puffing and absolutely positive I wouldn’t make it through the session?

This isn’t meant to be a brag post, but rather an inspiration post. If I can do it, so can you.

No, really. I have never been a distance runner. I have kinda faked it a few times, but there was very little substance in those escapades.

Like the time in Grade 6 or 7 when another girl named Sarah and I were the only two people signed up for the 800-metre run during the Track and Field event at elementary school. We made some kind of friendly decision to keep (a rather slow) pace together until the last 200 metres or so, when the other Sarah very easily increased her pace and won. The race was never mine.

Or the times I have kept my runner friends company while foolishly attempting to simultaneously keep up a conversation.

But people can change, so it seems. I am on my way to becoming a runner (don’t want to jinx it by jumping to any peremptory conclusions).

If you are interested in doing the Couch to 5K, here are the things I would recommend you consider:

• Get the Get Running app (who wouldn’t want a lovely British-accented voice telling you when to walk and when to run?). $2.99 from iTunes.
• Podrunner Intervals playlist by Steve Boyett (free on iTunes for those who like to run to music). The electronic beats speed up when you’re supposed to run and slow down when you’re supposed to walk.
• Legit workout clothing. Chafing is unpleasant. Just sayin’.
• Start when the weather is going to be steadily nice, so that you don’t feel the need to run in miserable weather before you actually enjoy running. That said, I still have no idea whether or not I will stay disciplined once I have built up my endurance…

I have to credit several friends for inspiring me to get running: Gina, Robyn, Sarah (not the same one I ran the 800 with), Michelle, Elena, Vanessa, Brianna, Jacque, and others that I am sure I am forgetting (sorry!).

Are you inspired yet? Get running!